Anyone else seeing Black squirrels

I know I've mentioned this before and was advised that they are not squirrels but it seems over the past couple of days now seeing more of them, now at the bottom of our garden in the pine trees, and my neighbor says the same.

Then walking dogs this AM, OH said one shot out across the track and last week saw two in different trees whilst on the same chair lift.

Though the best was today, whilst on a chair lift, a white hare appeared legging it across and up the snow field that the chair was going up and then once over the ridge where it plateaus he went down only to then come back up again crossing another snow field, he must have done well over a 2 km flat out!

Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

What colour are the tablets that you are taking?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We have quite a few black squirrels here, but at present they are not at this altitude, although my dogs are obsessed with something in the large stone boulders behind the house in the garden, maybe they've hibernated there

@under a new name is correct - Eurasian red squirrels coats can morph between black and red. In Scotland, more typically red, but in Europe can often be very dark to black.

After all it is free

After all it is free

Black squirrels are quite common in Letchworth Garden City, believe it or not...

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@Weathercam, ,,,yep...we have loads of them on the Crans Montana side of the Valais...

And before the argument starts about the white diamonds on chests: the one around us are Black....and squirrely.

Small squirrel symmetry fact: did you know that Germans cannot say 'squirrel' and English cannot say the German for 'Squirrel'?

Squirrel
Eichhörnchen

We have very close German friends - and all their children have stayed with us in UK to learn English. Except the word 'squirrel'.

Ski the Net with snowHeads

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@Frosty the Snowman, I now have my decent camera out and ready for the next time I see it

And they are as black as black with pointy ears

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

valais2 wrote:

@Weathercam, ,,,yep...we have loads of them on the Crans Montana side of the Valais...

And before the argument starts about the white diamonds on chests: the one around us are Black....and squirrely.

Small squirrel symmetry fact: did you know that Germans cannot say 'squirrel' and English cannot say the German for 'Squirrel'?

Squirrel
Eichhörnchen

I have no problems with that: Eichhörnchen
there you are
A small squirrelly thing that eats Eichel I guess.
The black and red are the same species. Maybe the colour changes with the season?

> was advised that they are not squirrels

If it eats nuts like a squirrel and quacks like a squirrel, it is a squirrel.

And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.

And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.

I saw a black one in Ellmau at Christmas.

So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much

So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much

@davidof, ...yes...but I didn't hear you say it. We say it and all our German friends start rolling on the floor with laughter and falling off their dining chairs. That's the point at which we ask them to say 'squirrel'. Much hilarity.

OK - there are squirrels which change from light brown to VERY dark brown in winter (white chest)
Then there are squirrels which are a black mutation (no white chest) and dont' change colour

We have both on the south-facing side of the Valais. Unless some are dying their chest hair.

You know it makes sense.

You know it makes sense.

Quote:

Unless some are dying their chest hair.

Wouldn't put it past the Swiss ones.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

valais2 wrote:

@davidof, ...yes...but I didn't hear you say it. We say it and all our German friends start rolling on the floor with laughter and falling off their dining chairs.

I do the same when I hear Swiss Germans or Bavarians speak.

Poster: A snowHead

Poster: A snowHead

valais2 wrote:

Then there are squirrels which are a black mutation (no white chest) and dont' change colour

.

do they look like this?

Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

@davidof, see you too have been looking at Black Squirrels in Google Images

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Tons in the woods around us. Drives our lab bonkers (his brain can't cope with vertical escapes) All dark brown/black. The only things round here with white chests are the pine martins.

The black ones in the UK are an imported species from North America, indeed first spotted in the Letchworth area. They’re quite widely dispersed now. Possibly descendants from a single rogue black squirrel released over a hundred years ago and closely related to the greys. The European ones appear to be a different species related to the red squirrels. Indeed I saw several in Saas Fee a few years ago and they did indeed have the same ear shape as red squirrels. They were quite tame and would approach tables in the restaurant I used.

@WindOfChange, Interesting, the locals call the martens round here fouine but they look more like pine martens than stone martens. Whichever they are, they're too cool and crafty ever to have to run away from our dog

After all it is free

After all it is free

I see a few black squirrels in my neck of the woods in Austria, including one unfortunate chap who mistimed his dart across the road and was flattened by a lorry!

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geepee wrote:

They were quite tame and would approach tables in the restaurant I used.

unlike the waiters

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gvj wrote:

@WindOfChange, Interesting, the locals call the martens round here fouine but they look more like pine martens than stone martens. Whichever they are, they're too cool and crafty ever to have to run away from our dog

related to the widely used French word fouiner which means to nose around the place.

bordel de merde, le fisc va encore fouiner dans mes affaires

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Not seen black ones here, in Germany.
Round here they seem to be a much more "golden" colour than those I've seen elsewhere.

Do see black woodpeckers though.

And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.

And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.

Black squirrels used to be all over the place when I lived in Toronto (and I assume they still are), and are definitely variants of the North American grey squirrel (like @geepee's imported ones).

So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much

So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much

Black variations of many common species exist.
Melanistic is the term.

If Melanistics cross breed they will most likely (though not guaranteed) throw melanistic offspring...and so on to produce a significant and enduring melanistic population.

They are not Black Squirrels (a species) they are Squirrels that are black (if you see what I mean)

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

As far as I know black squirrels just have a different gene for pigmentation the same way some people have black hair and others blonde. Perhaps the dominance is reversed in them with black being more recessive than the lighter colour which explains why they are scarcer. Never seen that in red squirrels (though I've rarely seen them anyway) or in grey squirrels in the UK. In some places in the US however black are very common. Americans must find it very amusing and confusing to watch British tourists get fascinated by them the first time they see one. Niagara Falls was the first place I saw a couple and in Washington DC I saw a lot. It makes sense that these populations are isolated to different areas and that the mutation hasn't spread all over and also explains why I've never seen a black one in the UK if the handful of grey squirrels first introduced here did not carry that gene. I also saw some white ones in DC (though far fewer) which did not appear to actually be albinos, as far as I could tell they did not have red eyes anyway. Although DC seems to have a ridiculously high squirrel population anyway (very amusing watching Japanese tourists try to feed them on the steps of the Lincoln memorial only to get mobbed) so perhaps they aren't actually more common there and there is simply a higher sample of the population.

What was interesting (if you are boring like me) was the difference in behaviour between these variations. The black squirrels seem very hyperactive (even for a squirrel) and a lot more playful and active than the grey ones and if you saw one then you'd usually see two or three in the same place sticking together. This could potentially be explained by the extra heat absorbing qualities of black fur meaning they needed far less energy to keep warm than the grey ones so could afford to aimlessly run about and play or maybe the pigmentation is just a marker for some other underlying mutation that affects their behaviour, perhaps one that decreases chances of survival so limiting their numbers. I am no expert...

The few white ones I saw were noticeably shunned or bullied by the others. I don't want to anthropomorphise them but they seemed to noticeably get chased off and attacked by the others and end up keeping to themselves to the point where you could not help feel sorry for them. Although this makes sense in regards to natural selection as they'd stick out like a sore thumb to a predator and endanger the others around them, at least until winter rolls around. Yes... I really just wrote that much about squirrels on a ski forum...

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Weathercam wrote:

Weathercam wrote:

So I thought squirrels hibernated in the depths of winter, that for me is more surprising than the colour ?

Still no answer

The short answer is, "No, squirrels do not hibernate, but they do sleep a lot." Squirrels do not hibernate in winter, but they do not like cold weather, so they will stay in their den or drey when it is really cold, opting to stay warm rather than venture out. They need to eat during the winter, which is why they bury nuts/seeds.

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Ingemar_Skidmark wrote:

Black squirrels are quite common in Letchworth Garden City, believe it or not...

Very much, black squirrels are a variant of grey squirrels which are obviously resident in the UK. And it's well known there's a population of black squirrels in Cambridgeshire.

No grey squirrels, black or otherwise, in the alps fortunately for the red squirrels that we do have. It would obviously be quite a big deal if grey squirrels were introduced to the alps, they're invasive and you probably would need to report a sighting to the fauna or Forest police.